speakers

keynote speakers

Johann Hari is a British journalist and author of 2015's 'Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.' He has written for many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Le Monde, the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, the New Republic, the Nation, Slate, El Mundo, and the Sydney Morning Herald and was a lead op-ed columnist for the Independent, one of Britain’s leading newspapers, for nine years.

Jenny Valentish is a journalist with lived experience of problematic drug and alcohol use.

She is the author of Woman of Substances: A Journey into Addiction and Treatment (Black Inc), which was nominated for a prestigious Walkley Book Award, and writes regularly for The Guardian and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Tāmati Kruger (BA (Hons) in Māori Studies, 1978) is a Māori advocate and social and political analyst who has dedicated his career to the development of his iwi.

From the Ngāti Koura, Ngāti Rongo and Te Urewera hapū of Tūhoe, Tāmati was instrumental in securing the largest Treaty of Waitangi settlement to date ($450 million) for the Central North Island Iwi Collective. He is now a director of CNI Holdings, representing Tūhoe.

Hinewirangi Kohu Morgan is an artist, poet and visionary from Ngāti Kahungunu ki Nuhaka, Ngāti Ranginui ki Tauranga Moana and Ngāti Porou ki Muriwai. She is the Director of Te whānau Te Rau Aroha Ltd who run inmate programmes teaching literacy/numeracy, Te Reo, and History at Te Ao Marama-Waikeria Prison. Te Rau Aroha also offer programmes to help inmates address their offending. Hinewirangi is actively involved in - Ka Ata Mai - a women’s collective that teaches creative ways of working with Māori, is part of the Te Kotahi research team at Waikato University and teaches both here and abroad on all aspects of Māori philosophies relating to mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. Her areas of expertise include Traditional Māori parenting and healing, Māori flute-making, and indigenous poetry and drama. Hinewirangi is the Vice Chair of the International Indian Treaty Council and works with women and children.

Zeddy Chaudhry is doctoral researcher based in The Helena Kennedy Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. Her current research focuses on exploring effective pathways which support the reintegration of female offenders and is supervised by David Best and Tanya Miles Berry. She previously completed a MSc Psychology within which her research focused on the interactions of moral reasoning, personality traits, offending behaviour and substance misuse. She has experience of working within the Criminal Justice System supporting rehabilitation and reintegration, within the field of substance misuse and with children in care settings.

Dr Marianne Jauncey is the Medical Director of Australia’s only supervised injecting facility. This service was the first of its kind in the English Speaking World when it opened in 2001, and is credited with saving many lives. She is committed to pursuing translational research with real world impacts for the clients of MSIC, as well as ensuring those with lived experience are given a voice. She is a passionate teacher and public speaker, and now involved on a Uniting Church campaign to bring about a ‘rethink’ on drugs, including the removal of criminal sanctions for use. She believes that all health professionals should first and foremost be present for our clients, listen and be respectful – and from this, change is genuinely possible.

Supervised injecting facilities: A polarising political proposal, or an essential piece of our puzzle?

Pesio Ah-Honi (BBM, Post Grad Dip, Public Health DPH) is the National Director of Pacific Services - Mapu Maia, the Pacific Unit of the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand.

Of Samoan and Chinese descent, Pesio Ah-Honi was born in Samoa and educated and raised in Auckland. For the past 24 years she has worked extensively within the Pacific Island community in the areas of problem gambling, public health and community development.

Sir Mason Durie is a member of the Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Raukawa and Rangitane Iwi. He has had a lifelong commitment to public health, including mental health and addiction, with a particular expertise in Māori health and culture. He has served on range of health-related committees, councils and advisory groups, including the Mental Health Foundation (1976-1980), Royal Commission on Social Policy (1986-88), The National Health Committee (1998-2000) and was a Families Commissioner (2003-2007). Since 2002, he has been a leader in Te Rau Matatini, Māori Mental Health Workforce Development. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at Massey University.

Doug Sellman, MBChB, PhD, FRANZCP, FAChAM, is a psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist who has been working in the addiction treatment field in New Zealand since 1985. He was the inaugural Director of the National Addiction Centre (NAC), University of Otago, Christchurch, from 1996-2017 and has held a Personal Chair in Psychiatry & Addiction Medicine within the University since 2005. His main work focus is alcohol and food from addiction and public health advocacy perspectives. He is one of the medical spokespeople for Alcohol Action NZ.